We all know the value placed on the Quarterback in today’s league, however are they actually worth shelling over 100 million dollar contracts. You don’t win the Super Bowl by being good on one side of the ball. Only complete teams can take home the ultimate prize and with a salary cap of $120 million some teams are giving about 17% to their QB position alone. Now franchise quarterbacks will get you in the playoffs consistently, but that also keeps your draft stock towards the bottom of the first round as well. That means you have to be really lucky drafting the right personnel in order to eliminate possible deficiencies. Also if your franchise Quarterback happens to get hurt(this is football people), your team is suddenly the worst in the division **wink wink Green Bay**.

Packers fans watching their season coming crashing down

If you take a look at Super Bowl champions the past few years, there is usually a Quarterback who is playing above his contract. Here are the list of Super Bowl winning QBs the past 10 seasons, only 7 names! All of these Quarterbacks listed weren’t getting SUPERSTAR money, but they were playing at a superstar level.

*Tom Brady X 2 (=’03,=’04)* WAS PLAYING ON A CONTRACT JUST OVER $30 MILLION, IT WAS HIS FIRST CONTRACT FOLLOWING HIS ROOKIE DEAL. HE SIGNED AN EXTENSION AFTER THESE TWO SUPER BOWL WINS, IN 2005, FOR AROUND 48.5 MILLION GIVING HIM ABOUT $12.5 MILLION/YEAR, EXTREMELY MODEST FOR A THREE-TIME SUPER BOWL CHAMPION.

*Eli Manning X 2 (’07,’11)* SIGNED AN EXTENSION IN 2009

*Big Ben X 2 (’05,’08)* SIGNED AN EXTENSION IN 2008

*Peyton Manning (’06)* WAS PLAYING ON A 7 YEAR/98 MILLION EXTENSION FOLLOWING HIS ROOKIE DEAL IN 2003. MAKING AROUND 14.5 MILLION/YEAR, NOT DETRIMENTAL TO A TEAM’S CAP.

*Drew Brees (’09)* SIGNED NEW MEGA CONTRACT IN 2012

*Aaron Rodgers (’10)* WAS PLAYING WELL ABOVE AN EXTENSION HE SIGNED IN HIS FIRST YEAR AS A STARTER FOLLOWING HIS ROOKIE DEAL. SIGNED NEW MEGA CONTRACT IN 2013

*Joe Flacco (=9112)* SIGNED NEW MEGA CONTRACT IN 2013

Now let’s take a look at the highest paid QBs in the league. You’ll be surprised by the names on this list and how all of these guys are getting paid more than Tom Brady.

Matthew Stafford $12.25 million/year (6 years $73.5 million signed in 2009)

*Tom Brady $11.4 million/year (5 years $57 million extension in 2013)

*Denotes Super Bowl winning QB

Pretty remarkable, right? Tom Brady is one of the only QBs deserving of $20 million/year, but instead restructures his contract to keep his team competitive. How is he rewarded? Welker doesn’t get resigned and he’s left with a group of misfits on Offense. However the point is Brady gets it, unlike most of these other Quaterbacks who are just out for a payday regardless of the negative effects on the team in the long run. Specifically, Peyton Manning signed the biggest deal of his career following major neck surgeries. I get that he was the most coveted free agent of all time, but it really limits your team’s ability to improve anywhere else.

Manning is aware of all the critics and haters, so why wouldn’t his main goal be to win more Super Bowls. By taking on a boatload of a contract, Manning showed that he is just out there for himself. He is already making a ton of money off of sponsors: Papa Johns, Direct TV, Buick?? Peyton Manning, one of the best commercial athletes, doesn’t need the money. As a result, this Denver team isn’t making the Super Bowl. They have a nice offense but aren’t going to be stopping anybody on defense. I think they’ll get eliminated in the divisional round…..again. “At least he got all those records”-Peyton supporters

The NOODLE! Look away Broncos Fans

The biggest contract up there without a Super Bowl ring on his resume is Tony Romo. He just signed a 6 year extension for over 100 million, which would mean he is going to be 39 at the end of the deal. He is about to have back surgery and is notorious for late season/game collapses. The Cowboys defense was abysmal this season and they could use all the help they can get. They do have the benefit of being the richest franchise in the NFL but are limited thanks to Jerry Jones, GM/Owner/Wannabe Head Coach/Motivational Speaker/Narcissist/Living in the Past/Visionary/Puppet Master/Forever in debt to the Vikings and Herschel Walker/More importantly indebted for life to Jimmy Johnson/Jimmy Johnson Fan/Still Misses Jimmy Johnson/The guy who fired Tom Landry/Mr. Ego/71 Year old Man but I used to play football at the college level/Did you hear I played football once, I was a RB & Offensive lineman in my day…….Jerry Jones everybody!

JERRY JONES!!!!!

If we follow this trend, then we have a lot of intriguing Super Bowl picks based off of this theory. In the AFC: Cincy- Even though we have talked about how much we are against Dalton leading this team to the Super Bowl, they are stacked on both sides of the ball and special teams. If Dalton were to somehow get hot ala Flacco last year, this team could cruise to the Super Bowl. Indy- Andrew Luck is on the 2nd year of his rookie deal and big paydays are in his future, but this team fits the mold of recent champs. NE-Brady’s modest salary allows the team a lot of flexibility, and they find ways to get it done. They went to the Super Bowl with the worst ranked defense! KC- Alex Smith’s new deal is nothing special, but I don’t think he is a Quarterback who will ever got hot unless he gets in a time machine and trades spots with Aaron Rodgers the night of the draft and sweated out that first round on National Television.

Birth of Aaron Rodgers, Photobomber extraordinaire

In the NFC there are four teams as well: Seattle/San Fran- For the same reasons as Indy, but both teams have way better defenses and running games. Russell Wilson is in his rookie deal and I’m sure he’ll have a nice payday eventually. This theory really suits Seattle and San Francisco the most, if either of them win the Super Bowl it has a lot to do with their ability to build a complete roster without being constrained by a major QB contract. Philly-Nick Foles, rookie deal. Carolina- Cam is another player on his way to getting a big deal, especially if he makes a run during the Playoffs(SO WIN NOW).

Brady- Discussed above, like their chances of getting to another Super Bowl in a wide open AFC.

Brees- A team that is good on both sides of the ball, the only problem is they let home-field advantage slip away. Terrible road team and Brees has never won a playoff game on the road.

Rivers- Questionable defense and its pretty unrealistic they make it to the Super Bowl and win. I guess crazier things have happened.

Rodgers- A team that relies on drafting and developing players. They have a lot of holes in their defense, the addition of a running game makes this Packers team different than the past few years. They could get hot like 2010, and if they continue causing turnovers could end up in the Super Bowl totally defunking all of this time I spent writing this. **OF COURSE I’M ALL FOR THIS ONE ACTUALLY HAPPENING, HELLLLLOOOO***

How can you blame these players for wanting to get paid as much as possible anyway? The Owners are the ones making all the money, but refuse to hash it out accordingly(like smart businessmen). These huge Quarterback contracts aren’t good for the league and I’m sure they cause some tension in the locker room amongst players. Maybe these issues will be worked out during the next strike/CBA. In the meantime, we’ll continue to enjoy high scoring games and coming up with theories on Super Bowl contenders.